ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (1-1, 0-0 NSIC) takes on a pair of GLVC teams this weekend. CSP plays Maryville (Mo.) (1-1) on Friday at 1 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri. The Golden Bears will then stay on the road to take on Truman State (Mo.) (1-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Kirksville, Missouri.
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE – AVOID THE LINE!
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! New for 2023, Concordia will be a cashless ticket experience for fans, so if you don't purchase ahead, make sure to bring your card to make your purchase at the gate.
Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service, while faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. CSP students will have their all-sport season passes sent directly to their csp.edu email address.
Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets. BUY ONLINE
WATCH HOME GAMES ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and supported by BlueFrame Technology.
Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears competed in the Central Region Crossover where they split games this past weekend. CSP defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State 67-43 on Friday and then fell to No. 25 Missouri Western State 84-71 on Saturday.
The Concordia women held Southeastern Oklahoma State to 11-61 shooting from the field. CSP never trailed in the game. The Golden Bears were up by nine points at the half but kicked it up a notch in the second half starting it on a 16-4 run. CSP outscored the Storm 41-26 in the second half.
Redshirt Freshman Lauren Wilson led the Golden Bears in scoring with 13 points off of the bench. Wilson also added five rebounds and went 5-6 from the field. Guard Ally Gietzel scored 12 points with eight rebounds and three assists playing for a team-high 34 minutes.
Sophomore guard Lauren Feddema scored 11 points off of a team-high three 3-pointers. Junior transfer guard Mikayla Kanenwisher led the team in assists with four. Redshirt freshman forward Emma Mommsen scored eight points and was second on the team in rebounds with six. Megan Gamble, Lindsey Becher and Jalyn Shaw all finished with six points each.
The Golden Bears outscored Southeastern in bench points 38-16, in the paint 28-12 and off of turnovers 20-15.
Concordia-St. Paul returned to action on Saturday, losing to Missouri Western State by 13 points. The Golden Bears jumped to an early 15-6 lead, but the Griffons climbed out of it. Missouri Western used an 18-9 second quarter to lead by six at the half. CSP would tie the game at 64 with 5:57 left, but MWSU's Brionna Budgetts hit a driving layup and got fouled for the extra free throw. On the next possession, Budgetts hit a 3-pointer and the Griffons ended the game on a 20-7 run.
Becher led the Golden Bears with 22 points and from the field shooting 9-17. She tallied four rebounds. Gietzel scored 20 points shooting 7-14 from the field. She led the team in rebounds with seven, tallied three assists and played every minute of the game.
Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud led the team in steals with five. She added eight points, three rebounds and three assists to her totals. Gamble scored four points, Kanenwisher scored three points and Mommsen scored two points.
The Golden Bears struggled from behind the arc going 4-18. Missouri Western State outscored CSP in the paint 42-32 and in bench points 26-14. The Griffons also pushed the pace by outscoring CSP 22-7 in fast break points.
SEASON LEADERS
Gietzel leads the team averaging 16.0 points per game after the first two contests. This puts her at seventh in the NSIC in points per game after the first few weeks. She is fifth in the NSIC with a team-leading 7.5 rebounds per game and fifth in minutes per game with an average of 37.0.
Becher is averaging 14 points per game and Wilson is averaging 12.5 points per game. Kanenwisher is ninth in the NSIC with a team-leading 3.5 assists per game. Mommsen has the highest field goal percentage on the team at 83.3%. Dengerud leads the team in total steals with five.
MARYVILLE HISTORY
Series History: CSP 1, Maryville 0
Concordia-St. Paul will face off against the Maryville Saints for the second time in school history. The Golden Bears won the first matchup in 2015 by a score of 76-72 at the O'Reilly Event Center in Springfield, Missouri competing in the Drury Thanksgiving Classic.
CSP was outscored 16-10 in the first quarter but slowly battled back. The Golden Bears used a 20-11 third quarter to reclaim the lead and ultimately win the game to hand the Saints their first loss of the 2015-16 season. CSP was led by Mishayla Jones with 16 points and Lauren Shifflett with 14 points.
ABOUT THE SAINTS
Maryville opened its season this past weekend with a road trip to Michigan. The Saints defeated Davenport 59-52 on Friday behind 22 points from guard Antoinette Mussorici. The graduate student returns for her fourth season playing for the Saints after being named a First-Team All-GLVC selection in 2022-23.
Graduate forward Karlee Feldman returns to Maryville this season after spending her past two seasons at Grace College. Feldman played for Maryville back in 2019-21. She put up a double-double against Davenport with 13 rebounds and 23 points. Graduate Carsyn Fearday scored nine points in the contest with two assists. Junior guard Gracie Stugart transferred to Maryville from Truman State this season. Stugart led the team with five assists against Davenport.
The Saints had a tough challenge against No. 3 Grand Valley State on Saturday, losing 70-56. Maryville was led by senior guard Haidyn Pitsch with 14 points. Pitsch was selected Third-Team All-GLVC last season and started all 28 games. Fearday added 12 points and Mussorici scored 10 points. Eight of Mussorici's 10 points came from the free throw line.
Grand Valley State controlled the game as there was only one lead change. Maryville was competitive in the middle quarters outscoring GVSU by three points, but the Lakers outscored Maryville by 17 points combined in the first and fourth quarters. Grand Valley State outscored Maryville in the paint 36-26.
Maryville was tabbed fifth out of 14 teams in the GLVC preseason poll. The Saints did receive one first-place vote. They are coming off a 15-13 season and a 10-10 GLVC record in 2022-23. Maryville is led by second-year head coach Brita Hand, who came to Maryville after spending two seasons as the head coach of Briar Cliff (Iowa).
TRUMAN STATE HISTORY
Series History: CSP 1, Truman State 0
Concordia-St. Paul will face off against the Truman State Bulldogs for the first time since Dec. 2, 2000. The Golden Bears won the first matchup in a 66-65 thriller. Lisa Harfield was the leading scorer for CSP with 23 points and nine rebounds.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Truman State opened the season competing in the GLVC/G-MAC Challenge this past weekend. The Bulldogs lost to Ursuline (Ohio) 66-57 on Friday, but turned around and got the 85-68 win over Cedarville (Ohio) on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were led by graduate forward Ellie Weltha averaging 20.5 points and 13 rebounds over the opening weekend. Weltha had a double-double in both contests and shot 15-20 on the weekend. This earned her GLVC Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors for the third time in her career and she was a First-Team All-GLVC selection last season.
Graduate guard Ainsley Tolson scored 14 points in both games this past weekend. She totaled eight assists in the Bulldog's win over Cedarville. This is Tolson's first year with Truman State after transferring from Baker (Kan.) in the offseason. She has also played at William Jewell College (Mo.) and Avila University (Mo.) in her career.
Graduate forward Bailey Kliewer tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds against Cedarville. Kliewer is a transfer from Rogers State who scored 1,065 points in 106 games played for the Hillcats. Senior guard Clare Rake scored 11 points against Cedarville. Rake has spent all four years at Truman State and was second on the team in 3-pointers made last season.
Truman State did play Iowa State in an exhibition game to start the season, losing 88-68. The Bulldogs got off to a hot start, leading by five after nearly five minutes of play. Weltha had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Bulldogs were picked fourth in the GLVC preseason poll with one first-place vote. They had a 20-10 record with a 15-5 GLVC record during the 2022-23 season. The Bulldogs did lose GLVC Player of the Year Hannah Belanger in the offseason. Belanger holds the career and season school records for 3-pointers made.
Head coach Theo Dean is in his fifth season with the Bulldogs. Dean was the first African-American head coach in Truman State history when he was promoted from interim head coach to full-time head coach during the 2019-20 season. Dean has a 76-35 record for Truman State in his coaching career.
